| Title: | Carte-de-visite album of Algeria |
| Dates: | 1870s-1880s |
| Number: | 2019.R.1 |
| Extent: | 1 Linear Foot (Album of 52 photographs) |
| Abstract: | The carte-de-visite album contains 50 cartes-de-visite of Algeria and Algerians by various photographers including Jean Geiser and Alexandre Leroux; a two-part panorama of Algiers by Jean Geiser made from two joined horizontal cabinet cards; and a panoramic view of Oran by A. Decugis showing the port and military hospital, also on a horizontal cabinet card. |
| Request Materials: | Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy. |
| Language: | Collection material is in English |
| Repository: | The Getty Research Institute Special Collections 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100 Los Angeles 90049-1688 reference@getty.edu URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref (310) 440-7390 |
| Author: | Beth Ann Guynn |
Lucien-Jacob Geiser (1810-1852), an ébéniste by trade, immigrated to Algeria from Switzerland with his wife Julie and three sons in 1850, but died shortly thereafter in 1852. It is unclear whether Geiser père opened the photography business or his widow Julie opened it after her husband's death, but the family eventually partnered with Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Alary (1810-c. 1867), an early daguerreotypist, renaming the firm Alary & Geiser. After Alary's death the youngest Geiser son, Jean-Théophile (1848-1923), took over the business, running it into the 1920s under the name Jean Geiser.
Alexandre Leroux owned and operated a photography studio in Algiers from the 1870s until his death in 1912. After his death, his sons continued selling his prints using his stamp.
Little is known about the photographers L. Cairol; A. Decugis; Elie Karsenty; and A. Rigod.
The album contains 50 cartes-de-visite of Algeria and Algerians by various photographers; a two-part panorama of Algiers by Jean Geiser made from two joined horizontal cabinet cards; and a panoramic view of Oran by A. Decugis showing the port and military hospital, also on a horizontal cabinet card.
The Geiser panorama of Algiers is the first image in the album, adhered to the verso of the blank page preceding the carte-de-visite mounts. The first part of the album is devoted to views of Algiers, Blida, and Oran, while the remaining images are studio portraits of Algerian "types." The larger view of Oran is the final image in the album.
Rather than being inserted in their slots back-to-back, the cartes-de-visite are arranged in the album so that their versos are showing. The makers of the bulk of the photographs are not identified by imprints on their versos, and any imprints on their rectos are covered by the album mounts. In addition to Geiser and Decugis, photographers known to be represented in the album include Alexandre Leroux; L. Cairol; Elie Karsenty; and A. Rigod.
The album has bossed brown calf covers with floral and geometric designs.
Ink annotations are written in French on the versos of 33 of the cartes-de-visite, and on the rectos of the panoramas of Algiers and Oran.
The album is arranged in a single series:
Series I.Carte-de-visite album of Algeria,
1870s-1880s.
Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
The collection was digitized by the repository in 2019 and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2019r1
Carte-de-visite album of Algeria, 1870s-1880s, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2019.R.1.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2019r1
Acquired in 2019.
The finding aid was written by Beth Ann Guynn in 2019.
| Series I. Carte-de-visite album of Algeria, 1870s-1880s | |||||||||||
| Titles from annotations on mount versos unless otherwise noted. | |||||||||||
| Arrangement | |||||||||||
| In original order. | |||||||||||
| box | Item | ||||||||||
| 1 | front cover | 2019.R.1-fc Front cover | |||||||||
| 1 | front endpapers | 2019.R.1-fe Front endpapers | |||||||||
| 1 | front free endpaper verso | 2019.R.1-fe_v Verso of front free endpaper | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 recto | 2019.R.1-1r Blank page | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 verso | 2019.R.1-1v Geiser, Jean, Algier, vue générale, not before 1872 | |||||||||
| Two-part joined panorama made from two cabinet cards. Photographer's imprint on both mounts: Jean Geiser, Phot. 7, rue Bab-Azoun, Alger. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 2 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-2r1 Photographer unidentified, Alger, place du Gouvernement et mosquée de Djama-Djédid, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 recto-2 | 2019.R1-2r2 Photographer unidentified, Alger, boulevard de la République, quais, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-3r1 Leroux, Alexandre, Intérieur de l'archevêché, not before 1881 | |||||||||
| Annotation on verso written over elaborate Leroux imprint that includes images of medals won in 1880 and 1881. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 3 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-3r2 Leroux, Alexandre, Colonnades rue de la Marine, Alger, not before 1881 | |||||||||
| Annotation on verso written over elaborate Leroux imprint that includes images of medals won in 1880 and 1881. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 4 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-4r1 Leroux, Alexandre, Intérieur de la grande mosquée, not before 1881 | |||||||||
| Annotation on verso written over elaborate Leroux imprint that includes images of medals won in 1880 and 1881. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 4 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-4r2 Photographer unidentified, Alger, intérieur d'une maison arabe, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-5r1 Photographer unidentified, Alger, rue de la Ville Haute, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| View of the street's arches. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 5 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-5r2 Photographer unidentified, Alger, rue de la Ville Haute, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| A doorway on the street. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 6 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-6r1 Photographer unidentified, Alger, boutique arabe, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-6r2 Leroux, Alexandre, Port de la casbah, not before 1881 | |||||||||
| Annotation on verso written over elaborate Leroux imprint that includes images of medals won in 1880 and 1881. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 7 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-7r1 Photographer unidentified, Alger, Notre Dame d'Afrique, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-7r2 Photographer unidentified, Alger, Mustapha Suleimanie, palais du gouverneur, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-8r1 Leroux, Alexandre, Alger, vue de allée du Jardin d'Essai, not before 1881 | |||||||||
| Annotation on verso written over elaborate Leroux imprint that includes images of medals won in 1880 and 1881. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 8 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-8r2 Photographer unidentified, Blidah, vue générale, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-9r1 Photographer unidentified, Blidah, la place d'Armes ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-9r2 Photographer unidentified, Blidah, le jardin public, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-10r1 Photographer unidentified, Environs de Blidah, marabout de Sidi-Yacoub au jardin du Bois-Sacré, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-10r2 Photographer unidentified, Environs de Blidah, le ruisseau des Singes, gorges de la Chiffa, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-11r1 Photographer unidentified, Oran, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| View of docks and city. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 11 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-11r2 Photographer unidentified, Oran, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| View of the city. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 12 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-12r1 Photographer unidentified, Oran, fort de Santa Cruz, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-12r2 Photographer unidentified, Oran, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| View of the shore. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 13 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-13r1 Photographer unidentified, Oran, place Kléber, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-13r2 Photographer unidentified, Tirailleur algérien indigène, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-14r1 Photographer unidentified, Mascara, porte d'Oran et marché arabe, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-14r2 Karsenty, Elie, Mascara, cimetière arabe, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| Annotation on verso written over photographer's wet stamp: Photographie / Elie / Karsenty / Mascara. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 15 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-15r1 Leroux, Alexandre, Tentes arabes, not before 1881 | |||||||||
| Group of palms with tents behind them. Annotation on verso written over elaborate Leroux imprint that includes images of medals won in 1880 and 1881. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 15 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-15r2 Photographer unidentified, Tentes arabes, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| Large tent. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 16 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-16r1 Geiser, Jean, Lecture de la lettre (Alger), not before 1872 | |||||||||
| Title from a larger copy of this image held in the Ken and Jenny Jacobson collection of Orientalist photography (item number 2008.R.3-3677). This image is part of an elaborately staged "Oriental" series of photographs clearly intended for use by painters. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 16 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-16r2 Geiser, Jean (?), [Two Men Playing Chess at a Low Table], not before 1872 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-17r1 Photographer unidentified, [Portrait of Two Standing Women with Hanging Plants behind Them], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-17r2 Rigod, A., [Three Standing Musicians], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| Photographer's imprint on verso: Photographie artistique / de Paris / A. Rigod. / Succursales / à Mascara et Mostaganem. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 18 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-18r1 Rigod, A., [Algerian with Large Straw Hat], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| Rigod's signature is wet stamped on the verso. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 18 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-18r2 Cairol, L., [Portrait of an Algerian Caïd], not before 1878 | |||||||||
| Bust portait of a man with several medals pinned to his robes. Photographer's imprint on verso below his monogram flanked by medals won at 1878 Paris and Oran expositions: L. Cairol / photographe / boulevard Oudinot / Oran / (Algérie). | |||||||||||
| 1 | 19 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-19r1 Photographer unidentified, Saüda, 1883 | |||||||||
| Full-length portrait of an Algerian man standing next to a balustrade with a pot of flowers atop it. Dated on verso: 6 février 1883. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 19 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-19r2 Photographer unidentified, Mauresque, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 rectro-1 | 2019.R.1-20r1 Photographer unidentified, Arabe, ca. 1875 | |||||||||
| Full-length portrait of an Algerian man wearing a dark cloak over his robes. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 20 rectro-2 | 2019.R.1-20r2 Cairol, L., [Portrait of a Woman Wearing a Printed Dress], not before 1878 | |||||||||
| Photographer's imprint on verso, below his monogram flanked by medals won at 1878 Paris and Oran expositions: L. Cairol / photographe / boulevard Oudinot / Oran / (Algérie). | |||||||||||
| 1 | 21 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-21r1 Photographer unidentified, [Algerian Standing next to Chair, Cigarette in Hand], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-21r2 Photographer unidentified, [Seated Woman], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-22r1 Photographer unidentified, [Woman with Baby on Her Back Kneeling to Cut a Gourd], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-22r2 Photographer unidentified, Arabe sur un chameau, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-23r1 Photographer unidentified, [Woman Seated with Hand on Cheek], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-23r2 Photographer unidentified, Femme arabe en lieu enfant, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| Woman in profile with bonneted baby on her back. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 24 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-24r1 Photographer unidentified, [Bust Portrait of Man in Dark Garments with Tasseled Turban], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-24r2 Photographer unidentified, [Moorish Woman Wearing Conical Hat], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-25r1 Photographer unidentified, [Algerian Man Standing next to a Window], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-25r2 Photographer unidentified, [Woman Wearing Long Dress], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 recto-1 | 2019.R.1-26r1 Photographer unidentified, [Child Standing between Parents], ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 recto-2 | 2019.R.1-26r2 Cairol, L., [Woman with Lace Bodice], not before 1878 | |||||||||
| Photographer's imprint on verso, below his monogram flanked by medals won at 1878 Paris and Oran expositions: L. Cairol / photographe / boulevard Oudinot / Oran / (Algérie). | |||||||||||
| 1 | 27 recto | 2019.R.1-27 Decugis, A., Oran, port et hôpital militaire, ca. 1880 | |||||||||
| Cabinet card. Blind stamp on mount recto: A. Decugis Phot. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 27 recto-28 verso | 2019.R.1-27r28v Blank pages | |||||||||
| 1 | Back endpapers | 2019.R.1-be Back endpapers | |||||||||
| 1 | Back cover | 2019.R.1-bc Back cover | |||||||||